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UC-NRLF 


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THE    LIFE    OF 

WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE 


Ter-  Centennial  Address 

By  WILLARD    GIBSON    DAY,    A.  M. 


Fac  Similes  of  Shakspere's  Authentic  Sig- 
natures, and  the  Title  Page  of  His 
First  Edition  of  Hamlet 


FOR  USE  OF  SCHOOLS  AND  COLLEGES 


For  Sale  by  All  Booksellers 


Copyright,  April  23,  1916. 


N.  C.  Book  Depot 

326  N.  Howard  Street 

Baltimore,  Md. 


COPYRIGHT,  1916, 
BY  WILLARD  GIBSON  DAY. 


The  Life  of  William  Shakspere. 

ADDRESS  BY  WILLARD  GIBSON  DAY,  A.  M. 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

The  journey  hence  to  London,  is,  in  thought,  an 
easy  one ;  and  hardly  more  difficult  on  to  Oxford,  forty- 
six  miles  west  of  London.  Thence  we  may  go  again 
northwest,  .sixty  miles,  by  the  wagon  road,  to  the  ever 
classic  river  Avon.  Stratford-on-Avon  is  situated  in  a 
wide  valley,  at  a  ford  of  the  river,  and  hence  called 
Stratford,  or  Valley  Ford.  It  is  an  ancient  town: 
was  three  hundred  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  Norman 
conquest.  It  has  now  about  five  thousand  people,  old 
and  young,  and  had  fourteen  hundred  in  the  time  of 
Shaksipere. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  town,  the  little  river 
let  or  hindered  people's  crossing,  according  to  its  own 
capricious  will,  until  a  plain,  long,  rumibling  and  un- 
certain wooden  bridge  was  built.  That  lasted  until 
the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  when  a  low  stone  structure  ot" 
fourteen  pointed  arches,  took  its  place.  The  bridge 
still  remains. 

Approaching  Stratford  by  the  London  road,  there 
may  be  seen,  across  the  river,  on  the  west  bank,  the 
east  or  chancel  end  of  Stratford  Church,  with  its  high 
and  wide  old-English  chancel  window.  You  see  also 
the  churchyard,  filled  with  graves,  extending  down 
to  the  edge  of  the  water. 

Crossing  the  Avon,  by  the  bridge,  you  turn  to  the 
left,  along  the  nearest  street,  and  soon  you  are  at  the 
entrance  of  the  church.  Then,  going  forward  to  the 
chancel,  you  see  at  your  feet,  and  toward  the  left  or 
north  side,  three  graves,  covered  by  stone  slabs,  and 
with  inscriptions  surmounted  by  coats-of-arms.  The 


M195181 


4  THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE. 

grave  nearest  the  middle  of  the  church,  is  that  of 
Susanna  Hall,  eldest  daughter  of  William  Shakspere. 
Next  to  her's  is  that  of  her  husband,  Dr.  John  Hall,  an 
eminent  physician  of  Stratford.  Close  by  the  grave 
of  Dr.  Hall,  is  that  of  'Thomas  Nash,  who  married 
the  daughter  of  the  Halls,  and  thus  the  granddaughter 
of  William  Shakspere,  and  Ms  last  lineal  descendant. 
Adjoining  this  grave,  is  that  of  i/he  great  poet.  This  is 
covered  by  a  stone  slab,  on  which  is  the  now  well 
known  inscription : 

"Good  friend,  for  lesu's  sake,  forbear 
To  digge  ye  dust  encloased  here : 
Blest  'be  ye  man  yt  spares  these  stones, 
And  curst  be  he  yt  moves  my  bones/' 

These  words  alone,  doggerel  as  they  are,  have,  by 
their  miagic  influence,  kept  the  bones  of  Shakspera 
in  their  proper  resting-place  in  Stratford;  whereas 
otherwise  they  would  long  since  have  'been  removed  to 
«ome  great  corner  aimong  the  less  noible  but  mighty 
dead  that  lie  (buried  at  Westminster. 

Beyond  the  slab  that  covers  Shakspere's  grave,  i* 
a  wider  one,  extending  to  the  north  wall  of  the  church. 
This  covers  the  grave  of  "Anne,  beloved  wife  of  Wm. 
Shakspere,"  who  died  in  1623,  aged  sixty-seven. 

Looking  up  from  this  last  grave,  we  see  immedi- 
ately over  it,  on  the  left  or  north  wall  of  the  chunch, 
the  (bust  of  Shaksipere,  taken  in  a  sitting  posture ;  his 
hands  resting  on  a  cushion  before  him;  his  left  hand 
holding  a  pen.  This  bust  was  placed  in  its  position 
within  seven  years  after  his  death.  It  was  made  from 
a  cast  taken  from  the  face,  and  though  very  inartistic 
in  itis  details,  is  generally  regarded  as  giving  the  most 
correct  representation  of  the  poet's  personal  appear- 
ance. It  was  even  ipainted,  to  make  it  as  life-like  as 
possible :  the  face  and  hands  flesh-color,  the  eyes  hazel 
and  the  costume  such  as  he  had  been  accustomed  to 
weacr. 

The  Stratford  Church  is  in  the  southern  portion 
of  (the  town,  while  in  the  northern  part,  on  Henley 
street,  is  istill  shown  the  house,  and  even  the  room, 
ipoet  was  bom.  This  event  took  place  on  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM   SHAKSPEKE.  5 

23rd  of  April,  1564.  It  was  St.  George's  Day ;  and  all 
the  military,  civil  and  ecclesiastical  officials  were 
parading  in  their  fullest  uniforms.  They  passed  the 
Shakespere  birth-place,  on  their  way  to  the  great  elm, 
at  the  northern  'boundary  of  the  town,  and  where 
they  halted  in  their  march,  read  portions  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  chaunted  psalms,  and  sung  hymnls,  led 
by  choristers,  in  their  white  robes  and  surplices. 
There  were  also  mimic  shows,  representations  of  St 
George  killing  the  dragon;  and  other  holiday  sports; 
and  at  every  turn  of  the  street  there  went  up  shouts 
that  filled  the  air,  for  "'St.  George  and  merry  Eng- 
land !" 

Well  were  they  given  on  that  happy  anniversary ; 
for  then  indeed  was  born  a  man  that  did  more  for 
England  and  for  us,  for  hds  mother  tongue,  and  for 
mankind,  than  all  the  Georges  in  the  calendar,  and 
whether  commons,  doctors,  saints,  or  kings ! 

Born  of  whom?  Of  John  and  Mary  Shakspere: 
then  very  plain  and  simple  names ;  but  now  more  than 
honoraible  titles.  Mary  Shakspere  was  the  daughter 
of  Agnes  Webbe  and  Robert  Arden,  son  of  Robert 
Arden,  groom  of  the  bed-chamiber  in  the  royal  house- 
hold of  Henry  VII.  The  Arden  family  trace  their 
lineage  back  to  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor. 

Mary  Arden  was  a  mild,  amialble,  lovable  woman. 
Her  father  had  died  a  year  'before  her  marriaige;  and 
left  her  a  home,  in  which  she  lived  apart  from  her 
mother  and  sisters;  a  little  lonesome,  perhaps,  until 
John  Shakspere  'became  a  frequent  visitor  at  the  place. 
They  were  hasTdly  married  before  <she  put  her  hus- 
band in  the  fullest  possession  of  this  home,  and  of 
all  the  other  property  she  had. 

Ala  Mary  Shakspere  came  of  somewhat  gentle 
blood,  John  Shakspere  boasted  also  of  his  descent  from 
a  valiant  soldier  in  the  army  of  the  Earl  of  Richmond, 
who  conquered  Richard  III.,  on  the  field  of  Bosworth. 
So  when  the  poet  William  set  out  to  glorify  the  Ear! 
of  Richmond,  he  was  partly  engaged  in  brightening 
the  shield  of  his  own  ancestors.  And  after  Win.  had 
gained  some  reputation  and  influence  in  London,  one 
of  'his  first  efforts  rwas  to  have  established  by  coat-of- 


6  THE   LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE. 

arms  the  riigiht  of  plain  John  Shakspere  to  write  his 
name, — if  haply  had  been  able  to  write, — Magister, 
or  Mr.  John  Shakspere. 

Like  most  of  his  fellow-citizens,  however,  poor 
John  Shaikspere  could  not  write  his  own  name.  So  in 
his  earlier  married  life,  in  the  solid  ardor  of  an  honest 
flame  for  the  lovely  lady  of  his  heart,  he  took  the  first 
letter  of  her  name,  A,  for  his  sign  manual.  Mary 
Shakspere  had  a  little  more  education  than  her  hus- 
band ;  and  she  wrote  the  letters  M-y  for  her  signature ; 
and  even  between  those  two  letters  and  the  few  un- 
doubted signatures  of  William  Shakspere,  we  may  see 
a  distinctly  recognizable  family  resemblance  in  hand- 
writing. She  doubtless  placed  the  pen  and  held  it  for 
the  crooked  marks  of  the  poet  in  his  earliest  begin- 
nings. 

Mary  Arden  no  doubt  condescended  a  little  in  her 
marriage  with  John  Shakspere,  who  was  a  pushing, 
enterprising,  and  generally  miscellaneous  kind  of  a 
man;  one  who  only  needed,  however,  the  gentle  sup- 
port and  kindly  counsel  of  a  wise  and  quiet  wife,  to 
become  as  he  did  become,  the  most  prominent  poli- 
tician of  Stratford.  He  climbed  through  all  the  grades 
of  office,  and  finally,  in  1568,  became  a  high  bailiff  of 
the  (borough  and  chief  magistrate  of  the  town. 

A  great  deal  of  ink  has  been  wasted  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  John  Shaksipere's  occupation;  or  occupa- 
tions, as  we  should  say ;  for  he  had  several,  chief  among 
which  we  may  always  reckon  the  rearing  of  a  large 
and  excellent  family.  His  most  ordinary  business 
•wias  that  of  a  farmer.  With  this  he  combined  some 
town  employments.  He  no  douibt  attended  to  the 
butchering  of  his  own  cattle,  hogs  and  sheep,  and 
bought  others,  to  hiis  profit.  So  in  the  representations 
of  the  poet's  birth-place  there  is  a  front  shop,  with  a 
butcher's  stall  and  a  sale  window.  There  can  be  little 
douibt  that  meat  was  sold  at  the  Henley-street  resi- 
dence, and  by  the  Shakspere  family;  although  John 
Shakspere  was  called  a  wool-stapler,  in  order  to  dig- 
nify his  employment  as  much  as  posisdble. 

It  has  been  said  that  William  Shakspere  was  in  his 
youth  apprenticed  to  a  butcher;  but  in  the  light  of 


THE   LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE.  7 

recent  discoveries  that  was  not  possible.  And  yet  he 
knew  all  aibout  the  processes  of  butchering,  and  in  a 
way  that  no  man  ever  learns  without  seeing  and  en- 
gaging in  the  work.  He  mentions  things  seldom  or 
never  observed  outside  of  a  slaughter-pen.  Thus,  in 
Hamlet,  he  talks  of  "coagulate  gore."  He  makes  the 
old  nurse,  in  "Romeo  and  Juliet,"  discourse  of  bloody 
deeds  done  by  Romeo,  "in  blood,  all  in  gore  blood!" 
In  Henry  V.,  he  pictures  the  "fetlock  deep  in  gore." 
And  again  he  says,  "in  gore  he  lay  ensteeped."  Men 
see  gore  in  a  slaughter  hou.se,  and  hardly  any  where 
else,  except  in  imagination.  Shakspere  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  mention  a  "'barrow  of  butcher's  offal;"  thus 
indicating  that  he  had  seen  butchering  done,  tat  only 
in  a  small  way.  And  there  are  many  other  s>uch  allu- 
sions. He  did  not  forget  his  early  avocations  even  in 
his  latest  life  and  work.  In  the  play  of  Henry  VI., 
Shakspere  makes  the  rebel  Cade  say  to  Dick,  the 
butcher  of  As'hford,  about  hiis  destruction  of  enemies : 
"They  fell  tefore  thee  like  sheep  and  oxen;  and  thou 
behavedst  thyself  as  thou  hadst  been  in  thine  own 
slaughterhouse."  Again  he  'makes  another  butcher 
say: 

"Then  is  sin  struck  down,  like  an  ox; 
And  iniquity's  throat  cut,  like  a  calf." 

All  these  illustrations  show  that  Shakspere  had 
seen  butchering  done,  and  probably  had  often  assisted 
his  father  in  the  work. 

Mary  Shakspere  took  care  of  her  own  children : 
and  it  may  'be  partly  owing  to  this  fact,  under  Provi- 
dence, that  the  plague  which  visited  the  low  fevery 
town  of  Stratford,  in  Shakspere' s  infancy,  did  not  take 
him  to  the  other  world,  as  it  did  one-sixth  of  the  entire 
population  of  within  six  months.  The  doors  of  the 
houses  were  all  marked  with  a  red  cross  and  the  Latin 
words,  "Miserere,  Domine!"  and  the  prayer  itself, 
"Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us!"  went  up  that  year  from 
many  a  sorrowing  heart  in  that  ill-fated  town. 

When  the  poet  was  four  years  old,  his  father  was 
mayor  of  the  village,  and  held  his  court  sessions  in  a 
chaimiber  of  the  guild ;  and  the  large-eyed,  lighWiaired 
boy  began  with  his  earliest  memory  to  take  in  with 


8  THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE. 

wonderment  the  curious  humors  of  men.  Young  as  he 
was,  he  was  a  "chiel  amang  them," 

His  father  was  ambitious  for  the  son's  education ; 
and  Ms  mother  used  her  opportunities  in  teaching  him 
to  read.  For  the  only  school  in  the  town  was  the 
StraJtford  Free  Grammar  School;  and  that  could  not 
toe  entered  except  by  those  who  had  learned  to  read. 
The  poet  undoulbtedly  first  studied  the  A  B  C  or  "Ab- 
sey  Book/'  to  wftiidh  he  makes  allusion  in  the  play  of 
King  John.  It  contained  the  "Pater-noster,  Ave- 
Maria,  Crede  and  Ten  Commandments  in  Englyshe;" 
and  had  'been  published  ten  years  before  the  birth  of 
Shakspere  by  John  Day,  a  loyal  churchmen,  a  friend 
learning,  and  a  celebrated  publisher  who  had  the  sole 
copy-right  for  that  and  several  other  works  that  were 
successively  consumed  in  Shiakspere's  course  of  edu- 
cation. 

When  the  poet  was  six  years  old,  the  family  re- 
moved to  a  small  farm  at  Ingon,  two  miles  from  Strat- 
ford. John  Shakspere  had  rented  it  for  eight  pounds 
a  year.  William  then  had  a  good  long  healthy  walk  to 
his  school,  but  which  he  could  islhorten  a  little  by  com- 
ing cross-lots  over  the  beautiful  fields  of  Welcomibe, 
that  lie  northwest  of  the  village,  and  which  in  his  later 
Mfe  ibecame  Ms  property.  Here  he  had  opportunity  for 
his  lyric  observation  of  the  spring : 

"When  diaisies  pied,  and  violets  blue, 
And  lady-smocks,  all  silver  white, 
And  cuckoo  buds,  of  yellow  hue, 

Do  paint  the  meadows  with  delight !" 

And  here  also  in  the  bad  wintry  weather,  he  could 
say,  in  the  rhythm  of  his  homeward  steps>  at  night : 

"When  icicles  hang  by  the  wall, 

And  Dick,  the  shepherd,  blows  his  nails, 
And  Tom  bears  logs  into  the  hall, 

And  milk  comes  frozen  home  in  pails ; 
When  blood  is  nipped  and  ways  be  foul, 
Then  nightly  sings  the  staring  owl : 

To-JWhoo, 

TV>-whit,  to-whoo, 
A  merry  note,  while  greasy  Joan  doth  keel  the  pot." 


THE   LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE.  9 

Certainly  lively  pictures  of  isimple  homely  occupations, 
and  the  plain  rustic  living  to  which  the  poet  was  ac- 
customed. 

The  Free  Grammar  School  of  Stratford  was  a 
classic  institution;  and  as  the  church  curates  who 
taught  were  'better  instructed  in  Latin  than  in  other 
branches,  they  generally  taught  that  to  the  neglect  of 
other,  perhaps  more  useful  knowledge.  Sh&kspere 
undoubtedly  studied  Virgil,  'but  was  obliged  to  pick 
up  geography  in  later  life.  And  even  then  he  knew 
so  little  of  it  that  he  located  a  sea  in  Bohemia;  land 
made  a  love-lorn  couple  sail  in  a  ship  Where  they  could 
only  possibly  have  gone  by  overland  conveyance. 

A  certain  Thomas  Hunt,  curate  of  Ludington,  was 
fortunate  enough,  perhaps,  to  preside  over  Shakspere 
as  the  "whining  schoolboy;"  if  one  could  imagine 
that  he  ever  did  or  could  whine  over  any  kind  of  learn- 
ing. And  if  the  young  poet'isi  metrical  brain  was  ever 
lulled  to  sleep  by  the  busy  hum  of  the  .school,  he  might 
have  gathered  in  his  dreams  the  fairy  information 
which  he  penned  in  after  days,  in  the  verse : 

"I  know  a  bank  wheron  the  wild  thyme  blows, 
Where  ox-lips,  and  the  nodding  violet  grows, 
Quite  over-canopied  with  lush  woodbine, 
With  sweet  musk-roses,  and  with  eglantine." 

WTiile  pursuing  his  studies  in  school,  Sihakspere 
devoted  himself  to  Wm.  Lilly's  grammar,  which  had  a 
very  attractive  picture  as  a  frontispiece :  a  large  apple 
tree,  with  'boys  in  the  branches  reaching  for  the  fruit. 
No  doubt  young  Shakspere  took  his  share.  And  the 
book  and  picture  may  have  led  him  into  that  doubt- 
ful character  of  poacher,  which  a  stupid  wiseacre  set 
down  for  him  the  generation  following.  These  were 
his  words:  " William  Shakesipere,  much  given  to  all 
unluckiness,  in  stealing  venison  and  rabbits,  particu- 
larly from  Sir  Lucy ;  who  oft  had  him  whipt,  and  some- 
times imprisoned ;  and  at  last  made  him  fly  his  native 
country,  to  his  great  advancement.  From,  an  actor  of 
plays  he  became  a  composer."  This  last  sentence  we 
may  certainly  endorse,  with  some  qualification.  But 
the  other  declarations  were  not  only  apochryphal  but 


10  THE   LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE. 

impossible.  Sir  Lucy  was  in  London,  and  not  at  all 
in  Stratford,  at  the  time  set  down  for  the  deer-steal- 
ing business.  And  we  can  readily  imagine  what  would 
have  followed  from  the  Lucys,  or  any  of  their  retain- 
ers, flogging  any  one  of  stalwart  John  Shakspere's 
curly-headed  sons. 

Shiakspere  doubtless  received  much  of  his  Bible  in- 
formation througih  the  church  services,  which  he  at- 
tended in  the  chapel  of  the  guild.  And  before  the 
days  of  Cromwell  the  walls  of  this  chapel  were  well 
adorned  with  historical  and  symbolical  pictures.  As 
he  sat  in  his  place,  observing  everything  at  once  with 
his  open,  wide,  wondering  eyes,  he  took  in  the  details 
of  Becket's  martyrdom,  painted  on  one  side  of  the 
room,  and  the  inevitable  retribution  of  the  Last  Judg- 
men  on  the  other.  A  picture  of  "the  seven  deadly  sins" 
came  in  for  their  share  of  his  sharp,  youthful  analysis. 

His  companion  and  friend,  pedantic  old  Ben 
Johnson,  had  to  acknowledge  that  Shakspere  knew 
some  Latin  and  a  little  Greek.  And  this  he  must  have 
learned  in  his  early  life;  for  the  most  of  his  classical 
allusions  are  in  his  earlier  works.  In  Henry  VI.  he 
quotes  a  line  from  Virgil,  familiar  to  every  student  of 
the  Aeneid: 

"Tantane  animis  celesti'bus  ira?" 

And  he  alludes,  at  least  six  times,  to  Aeneas,  always 
giving  the  proper  accent  to  the  name,  and  showing 
that  he  had  isicanned  its  quantity,  and  under  a  proper 
instructor. 

While  yet  a  schoolboy  Shakspere  began  his  obser- 
vation of  royalty;  the  occasion  being  the  visit  of  the 
queen  Elizabeth  to  Sir  Thomas  Lucy  at  Charlecote; 
an  event  which  stirred  the  society  of  Stratford  to  the 
depths.  John  Shaksipere  was  then  chief  magistrate; 
and  at  his  tbest  estate;  and  figured  in  a  very  enter- 
prising manner,  no  dou'bt,  on  the  unusual  occasion. 
William,  being  the  eldest  son,  had,  perhaps,  various 
matters  committed  to  his  attention;  and  the  entire 
family  of  little  Shaksperes  may  have  felt  themselves 
very  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  the  royal  realm. 

But  a  change  was  to  come  over  the  hitherto  happy 


THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE.  11 

Shakspere  household.  The  father  has  a  large  family 
to  keep.  He  is  of  a  liberal  and  generous  dis/position. 
He  has  'been  spending  money  too  rapidly,  considering 
their  limited  means.  There  had  been  already  seven 
children ;  four  daughters  and  three  sons.  Two  of  the 
daughters  were  older  than  the  poet.  It  was  found 
necessary  to  'mortgage  some  property,  to  obtain  a  loan 
of  forty  pounds.  But  after  receiving  the  proceeds  the 
father  is  still  too  poor  to  pay  his  poor  tax.  The  year 
following  he  is  poorer  still.  The  father  and  mother 
sell  more  property;  and  another  son  is  added  to  the 
family,  Edmund,  who,  when  he  grew  up,  followed  his 
brother  William  to  the  stage  in  London. 

John  Shaksipere  absents  himself  from  the  town 
council,  because  he  cannot  face  his  creditors.  Sir 
Thomas  Lucy  is  appointed  to  find  out  who  are  disloyal 
to  the  government  in  not  attending  church;  and  John 
Shakspere  assigns  as  his  resaon  for  absence,  the  fear 
of  being  arrested  for  debt ! 

William  is  taken  from  school.  He  helps  his  father 
in  every  possible  calling,  buying  and  selling  cattle, 
butchering,  or  doing  any  other  out-door  work.  It  was 
said  that  he  had  been  a  schoolmaster  in  the  country. 
If  true  at  all,  it  must  have  been  "about  this  time," 
as  the  almanac-makers  say.  He  may  have  instructed 
the  neighboring  children  at  Ingon,  where  the  Shak- 
spere family  had  been  living.  Or,  he  may  have  gone  to 
Shottery,  and  become  more  intimate  with  an  excellent 
family  that  he  had  always  known,  the  Hathaways, 

The  Hathaways  were  better  educated  than  the 
Shaksperes  were,  and  may  have  been  in  some  way 
early  patrons  of  the  poet's  learning.  At  all  events  an 
intimacy  springs  up  between  the  poet,  aged  seventeen, 
and  Ann  Hathaway,  twenty-five.  The  lady  was  repre- 
sented as  a  beautiful  woman,  with  dark  hair  and  eyes, 
in  pleasant  contrast  with  the  light  auburn  hair  and 
hazel  eyes  of  the  poet.  She  had  undoubtedly  a  lovely 
character;  for  her  brother  named  his  eldest  daughter 
after  her;  and  the  Shakspere  family  did  the  same  in 
the  case  of  one  of  their  younger  children.  She  was 
also  esteemed  by  others,  and  generally  by  those  who 


12  THE   LIFE  OP   WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE. 

knew  her;  for  the  -gardener  on  the  Hathaway  estate 
left  in  his  will  a  small  'bequest  for  the  poor  of  Strat- 
ford, which  Mis®  Ann  was  to  disburse  at  discretion. 
This  simple  fact  goes  very  far  toward  indicating  her 
actual  Character. 

She  undoubtedly  admires  Shakspere  for  his  "hand- 
some, well-shapt"  form,  as  described  by  the  gossiping 
Aubrey ;  as  perhaps  also  for  some  faint  "conception  of 
his  rare  poetical  genius.  But  when  she  finally  comes 
to  question  herself  closely  she  finds  that  she  not  only 
adnnires  but  loves  him.  She  blames  herself  no  doubt, 
but  her  love,  as  an  advocate,  soon  acquits  her.  She 
may  have  been  the  inspirer  of  those  (burning  stanzas 
entitled  the  "Passionate  pilgrim/'  written  'by  the  poet 
in  his  adolescence.  For  if  Shakspere  ever  loved  a 
huonian  being  he  loved  Ann  Hathaway  then.  She  may 
have  heard  Dowland  play,  or  sung  his  beautiful  com- 
positions with  a  sweet,  soft  voice  that  matched  her 
charming  countenance. 

She  might  indeed  have  debated  her  love  in  her 
own  heart  in  the  words  of  that  old  English  love^song : 

"0  was  I  to  blame  to  love  him? 

0  was  I  to  'blame  to  love  him? 
So  gallant,  so  kind,  I  could  not  be  blind ; 

1  was  not  to  blame  to  love  him. 

"My  heart  it  may  break  with  its  sorrow, 
'Tis  lost  for  his  sake,  no  complaint  will  I  make, 
My  heart  it  may  break  'with  its  sorrow. 

"O  saw  you  yon  tree's  sweet  blossom? 
Like  me,  to  youir  sight,  it  fades  with  the  blight ; 
Yet  blame  not  the  love  nor  the  blossom ! 

"O  pride  of  my  heart,  I  love  thee! 
The  zephyr,  the  sky,  may  alter ;  not  I. 

I  was  not  to  blame  to  love  thee!" 

It  ilsi  certain  that  Ann  Hathaway  loved  S'hakspere 
with  a  will  that  nothing  could  conquer.  And  so  it  is 
not  surprising  that  in  this  stage  we  find  Shakspere 
in  the  character  of  the  "lover,  sighing  like  a  furnace, 


THE   LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE.  13 

and  with  a  woeful  'ballad  made  to  his  mistress'  eye- 
brow!" 

This  mutual  attachment  could  not  be  kept  from 
the  keen  observing  eyes  of  the  old  father  Hathaway, 
who  saw  in  the  disparity  of  their  years  disgrace  for 
himself  and  his  favorite  daughter.  She  could  not  give 
her  lover  up;  and  so  the  father  made  a  will,  provid- 
ing for  all  his  children  but  one.  In  less  than  a  year 
he  died;  and  on  proving  the  will,  it  was  found  that 
Anne  Hathaway's  name  was  never  even  mentioned 
in  it. 

Richard  Hathaway  died  in  July,  1582,  and  then 
perhaps  the  sternest  opposition  to  Shakspere's  mar- 
riage was  removed.  There  was  doubtess  some  kind 
of  ibetrothal  or  pre-contract  between  the  lovers,  soich 
as  in  those  days  was  looked  upon  as  almost  the  same  as 
a  miarriage. 

And  two  of  the  men  mentioned  in  father  Hatha- 
way's will,  John  Richardson  and  Fulke  Sandels,  are 
within  four  months,  again  on  the  court  records;  this 
time  in  connection  with  William  Shakspere.  They 
have  gone  with  him  a  day's  ride  on  horseback,  to  Wor- 
cester, to  'become  endorsers  for  Shakspere  on  his  mar- 
riage bond.  It  is  dated  November  28,  1582,  and  al- 
lows the  marriage  after  once  asking  of  the  tains,  and 
with  the  consent  "of  her  friends,"  whereas  the  law 
and  custom  both  required  three.  Shakspere  had  given 
his  word,  and  was  anxious  to  make  it  his  'bond,  at  a 
time  when  any  meaner  nature  would  have  sihown  un- 
willingness, or  certainly  less  alacrity  than  he  did. 

The  lovers  were  married,  and  a  little  more  than 
half  a  year  afterwlard  their  first  child,  Susannah, 
Shakspere's  favorite  daughter,  was  baptized.  Twenty 
months  later,  twin  children,  Hamnet  and  Judith,  were 
baptized. 

About  this  time  John  Shakspere  was  deprived  of 
his  alderman's  gown,  because  of  his  continued  absence 
from  the  sessions.  The  entire  family  was  in  the  depths 
of  poverty,  and  suffering  all  the  most  annoying  dis- 
graces of  debt  What  wonder  then  that  Wm.  Shak- 
spere, being  still  under  twenty-one  years  of  age,  with 


14  THE  LIFE  OP  WILLIAM   SHAKSPERE. 

no  trtade  or  profession,  but  having1  a  wife  and  three 
small  children  to  provide  for,  beside  his  need  to  help 
has  wretched  poverty-stricken  parents, — what  wonder 
that  he  should  determine  to  try  the  venture  of  his  for- 
tune in  the  far  off  city  of  London? 

He  left  his  native  town,  his  home-nest,  wife  and 
children,  father  and  mother,  brothers  and  sisters,  and 
all  the  other  hearts  he  loved  so  well.  We  may  see 
him  take  his  way  across  that  old  stone  bridge,  that 
cared  so  little  whom  it  separated.  At  the  eastern 
end  of  the  bridge  three  ways  met,  the  middle  one  going 
to  London.  This  he  took,  and  journeyed  on  in  a  south- 
easterly direction.  He  crossed  the  eteep  hills  that 
divide  his  native  Warwickshire  from  Oxfordshire. 
He  traveled  on  foot,  for  the  family  could  not  have 
owned  a  horse.  He  trudged  through  the  weary 
stretches  of  barren  downs  that  mia)ke  the  beautiful 
Woodstock  Park  seem  like  a  paradise!  And  how  re- 
freshing would  have  been  its  legends  of  royal  romance, 
the  balladls  of  "Fair  Rosamund,"  if  he  had  only  known 
of  them!  He  must  have  stopped  in  that  region  tired 
and  travel-worn,  before  he  came,  on  the  second  day, 
to  a  resting-place  at  Oxford,  that  town  of  mighty 
learning,  then  in  his  wide-wondering  eyes  beyond  the 
summit  of  his  most  classic  aimibition!  Here  he  may 
have  lingered  for  a  day,  forming  a  couple  of  new 
acquaintances,  the  Davenants,  and  studying  the  ouit- 
sides  of  the  college  buildings.  He  could  not  have  gone 
into  tiie  great  Bodleian  Library,  which  would  now 
fall  down  and  worship  a  page,  or  even  a  single  line  of 
Shakspere'is  manuscript,  were  it  to  be  found, — for  that 
library  was  not  opened  to  the  general  public  until  four- 
teen years  later.  And  Shakspere  was  then  one  only  of 
ijhe  most  ordinary  public,  ragged,  no  doubt,  disheart- 
ened, and  suffering  deeply  from  all  the  ills  that  ad- 
verse financial  fortune  can  fall  heir  to. 

Shakspere  stopped  at  the  Crown  Inn,  a  smiall  and 
rather  private  tavern,  kept  by  the  very  humble  par- 
ents of  William  Davenant,  Shakespere's  namesake  and 
godson;  who  in  his  manhood  was  knighted  and  called 
Sir  William  Daveniant;  and  for  his  excellent  dramatic 
writing,  "rare  Sir  William  Davenant." 


THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM   SHAKSPERE.  15 

Leaving  his  newly-formed  friends  at  Oxford,  the 
youthful  adventurer  went  on,  four  miles  to  Whatley, 
six  more  to  Thetisford,  five  to  Stocking  Church,  six  to 
East  Wickham,  five  to  Bacconsfield,  seven  to  Uxbridge, 
and  then  fifteen  of  the  longest  of  all  weary  miles  to 
his  uncertain  Mecca  of  London ! 

We  may  be  thankful  that  on  the  journey  his  lodg- 
ing only  cost  him  a  penny  a  day;  for  which  small 
sum  beds  were  furnished  with  clean  linen.  If  he  had 
traveled  on  horseback,  his  own  fare  would  have  cost 
him  nothing,  the  host  in  that  case  only  charging  for 
the  keep  of  the  horse.  But  one  foot  up  and  one  foot 
down  was  Shakspere's  way  to  London  town.  He  even 
passed  through  "Banbury  Cross"  without  the  requisite 
of  the  nursery  jingle  with  regard  to  the  "hoisB." 

But  what  shall  he  do  in  London?  What  shall  any 
man,  without  trade  or  profession,  do  in  any  large  city 
today?  If  honest,  he  will  certainly  'be  glad  to  do  any 
thing  that  offers.  A  clerkship  in  a  grocery  would 
have  been  a  godsend  to  Shakspere !  It  was  not  a  time 
for  him  to  choose  an  occupation  mincingly.  He  could 
have  attended  market,  and  sold  meats  again  siuocess- 
fully.  Or,  isance  he  could  write,  and  wais  therefore  a 
"learned"  man,  he  might  have  kept  accounts,  or  per- 
haps drawn  deeds  such  as  he  had  seen  in  his  father's 
office  in  Stratford ! 

But  no  such  good  place  was  open  to  Shaifcspere! 
Luckily  for  us,  however,  theatrical  companies  had 
visited  Stratford  every  year  during  the  poet's  youth. 
And  a  certain  Thomas  Green,  of  Stratford,  had  found 
employment  in  a  low  capacity  at  the  Blackfriars  The- 
arte ;  and  thirther  Shakspere  went.  He  was  admitted 
in  the  lowest  capacity.  It  is  believed  and  very  well 
attested,  that  at  first  he  held  horses  at  the  door  of  the 
theater.  Happy  horses!  now  certainly  immortal- 
ized !  Shlakspere  no  doubt  loved  and  petted  them ;  he 
stroked  their  intelligent  faces,  patted  their  'beautiful 
necks;  and  they,  in  turn,  sniffed  at  his  curly  hair, 
and  nibbled  with  their  sensitive  lips  at  hi's  ragged 
elbow;  while  the  so-called  masters  of  the  noble  ani- 
mals applauded  to  the  echo  scenes  insdde  the  theater 


16  THE  LIFE   OF   WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE. 

which  it  proved  the  mission  of  the  poet  either  to  alter 
or  abolish. 

Shakspere  at  length  becomes  lan  actor  of  small 
parts,  while  as  a  supernumerary  he  helps  to  shift  the 
few  'bungling  scenes  used  to  frame  in  the  extravagant, 
ranting,  peaeodc-strutting  stars !  He  became  univer- 
sally  useful  about  the  place.  And  when  it  became  his 
employment  and  duty  to  improve  and  reform  the  plays 
in  use,  (by  Subtractions  and  additions  of  his  own,  he 
gets  a  spanking  rebuff  frofm  a  talented  but  dissipated 
and  declining  play-wright,  one  Robert  Greene,  who 
warns  his  friends  to  beware  of  Shakspere,  as  one  hav- 
ing a  "tyger's  heart  in  a  player's  hide."  He  calls 
Shakspere  an  upstart  crow,  adorned  with  Greene's 
and  other's  feathers;  and  who  believes  that  he  can 
bomlbast  out  blank  verse  equal  to  the  best  of  us !"  Time 
haig  certainly  established  the  last  supposition. 

Greene  died,  and  a  year  later  this  allusion  to  Shak- 
spere found  its  way  into  print.  Shakspere  was  very 
indignant  over  it;  and  so  the  publisher  makes  a  very 
humible  apology,  anid  fully  endorses  Shakspere's  quick- 
ly-earned but  excellent  reputation  both  as  a  writer  and 
as  a  mian. 

In  1592  John  Shakispere  is  still  in  the  depths  of 
debt,  but  William  has  become  a  .shareholder  in  the 
Blackfriars  Theatre.  The  next  year  he  is  admitted  as 
part  owner  of  the  Globe  Theater  also,  a  play-house  for 
(summer  entertainments  and  built  without  a  roof.  But 
William  is  unable  to  help  his  father  much,  because  the- 
atrical performances  were  prohibited  on  account  of 
the  plague  prevailing  in  London. 

The  next  year,  When  Shakspere  was  thirty  years 
old,  he  -began  to  print  'some  of  his  earliest  works.  The 
poem  entitled  Venuis  and  Adonis  was  published  in  May, 
1594,  and  dedicated  to  Henry  Wriothesly,  Earl  of 
Southampton.  He  afterwards  published  the  second 
poetai  entitled  "The  Rape  of  Luereece,"  and  (similarly 
dedicated.  These  two  letters  of  dedication  are  the 
only  Shakspere  letters  now  in  existence.  Of  course 
the  then  unvalued  originals  of  these  letters  perished 
in  tjhe  printing-office. 

Shatospere  at  that  time  had  many  frien'dfe  among 


THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE.  17 

the  nobility ;  and  to  establish  himself  more  firmly  as  a 
well-born  gentleman,  and  also  to  obtain  a  crumb  of 
comfort  for  his  debt-despairing  father,  he  applies  for 
a  confirmation  of  a  coat-of-arms,  on  the  score  of  his 
great-grandfather's  services  as  a  soldier  under  Henry 
VII.  The  arms  were  granted,  and  John  Shakspere, 
yoeman,  was  entitled  to  have  Magister,  or  Mr.,  put 
before  his  name.  But  as  people  often  forget  it  in  writ- 
ing, the  Mr.  had  to  'be  interlined,  or  written  over  his 
name,  as  it  is  now  commonly  found.  It  is  fortunate 
for  us  now,  that  he  had  this  small  title;  for  it  helps 
us  to  distinguish  the  poet's  father  from  another  John 
eihakspere,  a  shoemaker,  and  at  that  time  not  on  any 
account  to  'be  called  a  M'ister. 

In  1599  Shakspere  again  applies  to  the  College-of- 
Arrms,  in  the  name  of  his  father,  ibut  in  his  mother's 
right,  for  the  arms  of  Robert  Arden  to  be  united  with 
tihose  of  John  Shakspere.  The  request  was  granted; 
and  so  the  poet  (became,  as  we  may  say,  doubly  a  gen- 
tleman; a  title  which,  in  his  simple  and  true-souled 
ambition,  he  thoroughly  delighted  in.  The  theater  was 
not  hite  chosen  place ;  nor  were  its  associations  gener- 
ally those  he  loved  the  most.  He,  was  perfectly  at 
home  only  with  really  ndble  men,  and  whether  he 
found  these  among  his  theatrical  associates  or  else- 
where. 

During  the  poet's  life  in  London,  he  was  re- 
quired to  pass  through  nearly  every  kind  of  human 
suffering.  First,  there  wa's  his  long-continued  separa- 
tion from  his  doting  family.  Early  in  this  involuntary 
absence,  he  wrote  from  an  Italian  story,  translated 
into  English,  the  love-filled  tragedy  of  Romeo  and 
Juliet  No  doubt  his  own  true  heart  was  his  ideal 
Romeo ;  and  the  one  he  never  ceased  to  love,  the  true 
Juliet  The  play  presents  the  full-grown  deep  and 
honest  love  of  man  and  woman,  and  not  the  simple, 
doubting,  weak  and  tender  "-maiden  passion"  for  a 
maid. 

Shakspere' s  wife  was  eight  years  older  than  him- 
self, and  while  he  knew,  from  his  own  experience, 
all  the  difficulties  of  the  isdtuataon;  and  while  in  his 


18  THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM   SHAKSPERE. 

own  words  he  endorsed  the  general  judgment  of  man- 
kind, in  saying,  in  the  play  of  Twelfth-Night: 

"Let  ever  the  woman  take  an  elder  than  herself," 

still  there  is  not  a  particle  oif  evidence  that  he  ever 
ceased  to  love  her.  His  strong  (attachment  in  his  en- 
forced -absence  may  have  begotten  jealousy  at  times, 
a  supposition  not  without  some  evidence.  Shakspere 
certainly  knew  full  well  the  torturing  nature  of  thait 
unreasonable  passion.  He  represented  its  long  cres- 
cen'do  uip  to  desperation  in  the  play  of  Othello,  where 
the  fair  beautiful  wife  is  horribly  and  insanely  mur- 
dered by  the  over-credulous  black-a-moor  husband. 
And  then  he  gave  its  sublime  diminuendo,  dn  the 
beautiful  denouement  of  the  Winter's  Tale,  where  the 
wife,  long  mourned  as  dead  is  brought  back  in  quick 
full  life  to  her  repentant  husband's  doubly-loving  arms. 

This  last  play  Shaksipere  wrote  in  Stratford,  after 
his  retirement  from  London,  and  while  in  his  own 
comfortable  home,  in  the,  cheering  presence  of  that 
faithful  woman,  whose  highest  ambition  was  to  'be  at 
the  last  'laid  in  the  same  grave  with  him.  If  he  ever 
bad  any  doubts  of  her,  they  were  all  dissipated  when 
the  play  of  the  Winter's  Tale  was  written. 

Perhaps  Anne  Shiaktepere  had  what  we  call  now  a 
tongue,  and  which  she  may  at  times  have  used  unduly ; 
but  while  the  poet  has  taught  uis  that  a  man  can  "smile 
and  simile,  and  be  a  villain,"  he  has  also  shown  us  in 
this  play,  by  the  character  of  Paulina,  that  an  honest 
womian  rniay  scold  somewhat  heroically,  and  yet  'be 
something  of  a  very  angel. 

No  writer  ever  equaled  Shakspere  in  doing  thor- 
ough hearty  justice  to  the  'different  varieties  of  woman- 
kind. In  his  early  play  of  Richard  III.,  he  represents 
the  fickleness  of  a  weaik  womian  in  her  unsuccessful 
opposition  to  a  most  consummate  villain  man.  Richard, 
after  his  interview  with  the  Lady  Anne,  whom  he  has 
encountered  on  her  way  to  bury  her  husband's  body, 
exclaims : 

"Was  ever  womian,  in  thds  humor  woo'd? 
Was  ever  woman  in  this  humor  won? 


THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM   SHAKSPERE.  19 

I'll  have  her;  ibut  I  will  not  keep  her  long! 

What!  I,  that  killed  her  husband,  and  his  father, 

To  take  her  in  her  -heart's  extremest  hate, 

With  curses  in  her  mouth,  tears  in  her  eyes, 

The  bleeding  witness  of  her  hatred  by; 

With  God,  her  conscience,  and  these  bars  against  me, 

And  I,  no  friends  to  back  my  'suit  withal, 

But  the  plain  devil  and  dissembling  looks, — 

And  yet  to  win  her!  all  the  world  to  nothing!" 

And  in  Cymbeline,  one  of  his  latest  plays,  he  makes 
a  poor,  deceived  husband  cry  out  in  his  bitter  agony : 

"Could  I  find  out 

The  woman's  part  in  me!    For  there's  no  motion 
Tends  to  vice  in  man,  but  I  affirm 
It  is  the  woman's  part:    Be  it  lying,  note  it, 
The  woman's;  flattering,  hers;  deceiving,  hers; 
Ambitions,  covetings,  change  of  prides,  disdain, 
Nice  longings,  slanders,  mutability, 
All  faults  that  may  be  named,  nay,  that  hell  knows, 
Why  hers,  in  part,  or  all;  but  rather,  all; 
For  ev*n  to  vice 

They  are  not  constant,  but  are  changing  still 
One  vice  but  of  a  minute  old,  for  one 
Not  half  so  old  as  that!    I'll  write  against  them, 
Detest  them,  curse  them : 

Yet,  'tis  greater  skill 

In  a  true  hate,  to  pray  they  have  their  will: 
The  very  devils  cannot  plague  them  better!" 

Thus  Shakspere  gnvea  the  naturally-unjust 
thought  and  feeling  of  a  deluded  man  against  a  wife 
who  is  an  embodiment  of  womanly  loveliness.  In  his 
maddening  error  he  assigns  a  place  for  her  to  meet 
him,  and  where  he  expects  to  have  her  killed  by  a  ser- 
vant, Pisanio.  The  husband,  Leonatus,  sendls  Imogen, 
the  wife,  a  letter,  in  which  she  reads  these  words: 
"Take  notice,  that  I  am  in  Cambria,  at  Milford-Haven. 
What  your  own  love  will,  out  of  this,  advise  you,  fol- 
low." "Leonatus."  Then  Imogen : 

"O  for  a  horse  with  wings!     Hearst  thou,  Pisanio? 
He  is  at  Milford-Haven!    Read  and  tell  me 


20  THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE. 

How  far  tis  thither.    If  one  of  mean  affaarts 
May  plod  it  in  a  week,  why  may  not  I 
Glide  thirther  in  a  day? — Then,  true  Pisanio, 
Who  longst  'like  me  to  see  thy  lord ;  who  longst, 

0  let  me  bate, — 'but  not  like  me, — yet  longst, — 
But  in  a  fainter  kind :  O  not  like  me : 

For  mine's  beyond  beyond, — say,  and  speak  thick, 
Love's  counsellors  should  fill  the  'bores  of  hearing, 
To  the  smothering  of  the  sense, — how  fiar  it  is 
To  this  same  blessed  Milford :   And,  by  the  way, 
Tell  me  how  Wales  was  made  so  happy  as 
To  inherit  such  a  haven :  But,  first  of  all, 
How  may  we  steal  hence :  and,  for  the  gap 
That  we  ishall  make  in  time,  from  our  hence  going 
And  return,  to  excuse: — but  first,  how  get  hence: 
Why  should  excuse  be  born,  or  e'en  begot? — 
We'll  talk  of  that  hereafter.    Prythee,  sipeiaik,  speak, 
How  many  score  of  miles  may  we  well  ride 
Twixt  hour  and  'hour? — " 

Pisanio,  (breaking  in,— 
"One  score,  twixt  'siun  and  sun, 
Madiam's  enough  for  you ;  and  too  much  too." 

Imogen. 

"Why,  one  that  rode  unto  his  execution,  man, 
Could  never  go  so  slow :  I  have  heard  of  riding  wagers 
Where  horses  have  been  nimbler  than  the  sandtsi 
That  run  in  the  clock's  behalf, — But  this  is  foolery : 
Go :  bid  my  woman  feign  a  sickness :  Say, 
She'll  home  to  her  father;  and  provide  me,  instantly, 
A  riding  suit,  no  costlier  than  woudd  fit 
A  franklin's  housewife — " 

(Pisianio. 

"Madlam,  you're  best  consider — " 
Imogen. 

"I  see  before  me,  man,  nor  here,  nor  here, — 
Nor  what  ensues:  but  have  a  fog  in  them 

1  'cannot  look  through.    Away,  I  pray  thee 
Do  as  I  bid  thee :  Ther's  no  more  to  say : 
Accessible  is  none,  but  Milford  way!" 

I  venture  the  assertion  tihat  human  language  does 


THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE.  21 

not  contain  a  more  graphic  portrayal  of  true  ardent 
feminine  character  than  that  exhibited  in  these  won- 
derful lines : — the  intense  affection,  which  exaggerates 
everything  in  Which  it  has  -any  interest;  the  instan- 
taneous perception  of  the  difficulties  in  the  path  it  has 
chosen;  the  magical  resolution  of  the  'difficulties  en- 
countered; and  the  surrender  of  the  entire  being  to 
one  dominant  feeling; — not  to  recognize  these  distin- 
guishing characteristics  is  to  be  ignorant  of  noble 
womanhood. 

Shakspere  could  not  in  his  own  heart  conceive  of  a 
thoroughly  false  and  wicked  woman;  and  therefore 
Cressida,  the  false  one,  is  the  most  absurd  creature  in 
all  his  plays.  He  endeavors  to  picture  a  wicked  mother, 
in  the  play  of  Hamlet ;  'but  he  only  succeeds  in  settling 
the  blame  on  the  unnatural  uncle.  Shakspere  could  not 
•bear  to  leave  the  character  of  woman  so  dark  as  he 
found  it  in  tha  story  called  the  "History  of  Hamiblet," 
from  which  he  made  the  great  drama ;  and  so,  beside 
greatly  improving  the  character  of  the  mother,  he  puts 
in  also  the  beautiful,  tender  character  of  Ophelia. 

Shakspere  wrote  King-  Lear  at  home,  where  he 
doubtless  contrasted  his  own  two  excellent  daugh- 
ters,— Susannah,  aged  24,  and  Judith,  22, — with  the 
two  ungrateful,  false,  and  wicked  creatures  of  the  play. 

In  1596  Shakspere  lost  his  only  son  Hamnet,  a  lad 
of  twelve  years  old.  And  in  the  play  of  King  John, 
written  soon  after,  we  must  believe  that  we  can  see 
the  traces  of  the  poet's  own  deep,  fatherly  sorrow; 
as,  for  example,  where  the  mother,  Constance,  is  made 
to  say  of  her  young  son,  Arthur,  then  confined  in  a 
prison  that  would  only  open  at  his  death: 

"And  father  Cardinal,  I  have  heard  you  say 
That  we  shall  see  and  know  our  friends  in  heaven. 
If  that  be  true,  then  I  shall  see  my  boy  again ; 
For  since  the  birth  of  Cain,  the  first  male  child, 
To  him  that  did  but  yesterday  suspire, 
There  was  not  isuch  a  gracious  creature  born, — 
But  now  will  canker  sorrow  eat  my  bud,  - 
And  chase  the  native  beauty  from  his  cheek ; 
An'd  he  will  look  as  hollow  'as  a  ghost, 


22  THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE. 

And  dim,  and  meagre,  as  an  ague's  fit ; 

And  so  he'll  die ;  and,  (rising1  so  again, 

When  I  shall  meet  him  an  the  courts  of  'heaven 

I  shall  not  know  him:  therefore,  never,  never, 

M'uist  I  see  my  pretty  Arthur,  more?" 

Cardinal  Pandulf. 
"You  hold  too  heinous  a  respect  of  grief." 

GoniSitance. 
"He  talks  to  me  that  never  had  a  son!" 

Pandulf. 
"You  are  ass  fond  of  grief  as  of  your  child." 

Conisitance. 

"•Grief  fills  the  iroom  up  of  my  albsent  child, 
Lies  in  his  bed;  walks  up  and  down  with  me; 
Puts  on  his  pretty  looks,  repeats  his  words ; 
Remelnibers  me  of  all  his  gracious  parts; 
Stuffls  out  his  vacant  garments  with  his  form. 
Then  have  I  reason  to  be  fond  of  grief. — 
Easre-you-well :   had  you  such  loss  as  I, 
I  could  give  better  comfort  than  you  do." 

Five  years  after  the  death  of  this  only  son,  Shak- 
sper's  father  died,  in  Stratford;  and  there  is  a  conjec- 
ture that  S'hakspere  left  the  stage,  for  a  season,  an'd 
visited  Scotland ;  and  that  this  visit  led  to  the  produc- 
tion of  Macbeth,  which  is  isupposied  to  have  been  writ- 
ten soon  after. 

In  1607  he  attended  the  funeral  oif  his  brother, 
Edmund,  who  was  buried  from  a  church  in  London. 
And  among  the  funeral  charges  is  one  of  twenty  shill- 
ings for  ringing  a  knell  for  Edmund  on  the  great 
bell  of  the  church.  William  Shakspere  paid  the  funeral 
bills,  and  would  allow  no  "maimed  rites,"  even  if  his 
brother  had  (been  only  an  indifferent  and  church- 
despised  actor. 

Two  months  later,  Mrs.  Hathaway,  Anne  'Sihak- 
spere's  mother,  died.  And  the  isame  day,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Dr.  John  and  Suisiannah  Shakspere  Hall, 
was  born.  This  Elizabeth  proved  to  be  the  last  of 
Shiakspere's  lineal  descendants;  for  although  twice 


THE   LIFE  OF  WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE.  23 

married  she  had  no  children.  At  her  death  she  had 
the  title  of  Lady  Barnard. 

Early  in  this  year,  1608,  Shakspere  returned  to 
Stratford  to  remain.  His  own  mother  was  in  declin- 
ing health.  We  may  imagine  the  comfort  she  took 
in  having  the  presence  of  her  gifted,  and  even  then 
quite  celebrated  <son. 

While  spending  his  time  in  Stratford,  he  took  care 
to  look  after  iboth  his  real  and  personal  property.  He 
had  advanced  money  and  obtained  loans  for  his  Strat- 
ford friends  while  he  was  in  London;  and  a  part  of 
his  occupation  in  Stratford  was  to  collect  debts  due 
him.  In  August,  1608,  he  'brought  isuit  against  one 
John  Addenbroke  for  money  past  due.  But  on  Sept. 
9th,  Shakspere' s  mother  died ;  and  the  suit  was  held  in 
aibeyance.  But  early  in  the  next  year  Shafcsipere  went 
on  with  his  suit.  Adden'broke  absented  himself,  and 
Shakspere  sued  his  endorser;  and  a  jury  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  gave  Shakspere  the  amount  claimed:  Six 
pounds  for  the  debt,  and  one  pound  four  shillings  for 
costs.  At  another  time,  he  sued  a  man  for  twenty 
shillings,  due  for  corn  delivered  from  the  poet'is  farm, 
under  the  management  of  his  brother,  Gilbert.  Shak- 
spere was  generous  in  providing  and  giving,  but  he 
never  permitted  himself  to  be  imposed  upon  either  by 
has  London  adventurers  or  his  Stratford  friends. 

In  1612  Shakspere  signed  a  small  mortgage,  to 
secure  a  deferred  payment  on  a  house  purchased,  and 
situated  near  the  Blackfi-arts  Theater.  The  mortgage 
was  for  sixty  pounds.  But  the  signature  has  long  been 
of  va/stly  greater  value  than  the  property  conveyed,  for 
it  is  the  most  authentic  Shakspere  signature  on  record, 
being  the  only  one  known  to  have  'been  executed  by 
ham  while  in  perfect  health. 

The  year  following,  Richard,  the  last  of  Shak- 
spere's brothers,  died.  And  during  the  next  his  jovial 
intimate  friend,  John  Combe,  deceased,  leaving  Shak- 
spere a  legacy  of  five  pounds  for  old  acquaintance 
siake.  And  the  next  year,  1616,  is  Shakspere's  last  on 
earth. 

Shakspere  is  in  Stratford,  surrounded  by  his  inti- 
mate friends  and  connections,  taking  care  of  his  well- 


24  THE   LIFE   OF   WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE. 

earned  property,  yielding  him  £300  a  year,  and  in 
actual  value  equal  to  £1,000,  or  say  $5,000  a  year, 
at  this  present  time:  no  great  income,  to  Ibe  sure; 
but  one  that  the  poet  knew  was  enough.  He  not  writ- 
ten against  money-hoarding  all  his  life  to  become  at 
the  last  avaricious  himself. 

On  the  25th  of  January,  1616,  Shakspere  wrote 
the  first  draft  of  Ms  will,  being  at  that  time  in  perfect 
health.  His  second  daughter  was  about  to  be  mar- 
ried, and  he  wished  to  arrange  his  property  to  suit 
the  changing  circumstances.  Fifteen  days  later  Judith 
was  married  to  Mr.  Thomas  Quiney,  vintner.  On  the 
25th  of  the  next  month,  February,  Shakspere  re- writes 
his  will,  putting  in  sundry  affectionate  remembrances 
of  his  wife,  and  of  his  most  intimate  friends.  Two 
other  monthls  went  by,  and  the  everlasting  bard,  the 
poet  of  all  time,  had  passed  to  his  final  account.  He 
died  on  his  fifty-second  birthday;  thus  making  April 
23rd  more  the  Shakspere  than  the  St.  George's  Day. 
He  was  buried  on  the  anniversary  of  his  baptism, 
April  26th,  and  near  the  altar  where  he  had  been 
b&jpitzed. 

An  enthusiastic  friend  of  royalty  attempted  to 
praise  Shakspere  by  saying  that  he  mi'ght  even  have 
been  a  king !  So  he  might !  But  iwhere's  the  king  that 
could  have  filled  up  Shakspere'fs  place,  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  or  in  the  hearts  of  humankind?  Earth, 
in  her  most  lavish  mood,  could  never  be  extravagant 
enough  to  Waste  so  great  a  poet  in  a  politician  or  a 
king! 

Shiaikspere's  personal  characteristics  have  been 
well  set  forth  by  his  contemporary  actors  and  friends: 
Although  devoted  to  his  work,  he  cared  less  to  be  a 
poet  than  to  be  a  gentleman;  and  though  he  always 
held  the  mirror  'so  that  Nature  could  easily  see  her- 
iself,  yet  he  never  wrote  a  line  designed  to  injure  a 
human  being, — to  wound  a  heart  or  to  exalt  a  vice. 
There  are  plain,  common,  honest  English  expressions ; 
but  only  such  as  the  ssdtuiation  required.  Ben  John- 
son well  siaid  of  him :  "He  was  indeed  honest,  and  of  a 
free  and  open  nature;  had  an  excellent  fantasy,  brave 
notions,  and  gentle  expressions."  "He  was  a  hand- 


THE   LIFE  OF   WILLIAM    SHAKSPERE.  25 

some,  well-shapt  man,"  says  Aubrey,  "very  good  com- 
pany, and  of  a  ready,  smooth  and  pleasant  wit."  "Di»- 
tinguisihed  for  uprightness  in  deialing,  and  a  facetious 
grace  in  writing,"  said  Ghettle,  in  his  apology.  "The 
best  in  tragedy  and  comedy,"  said  Meres,  when  Shak- 
epere  had  only  written  the  first  and  poorest  dozen  of 
his  plays, 

Shakspere's  ability  was  not  that  acquired  -by 
study.  He  lacked  iboth  education  and  discipline.  But 
he  had  that  which  covered  and  kept  out  of  sight  all 
minor  deficiencies.  His  genius  was  the  crowning  ex- 
ample of  all  true  genius,  the  grand  capacity  for  unsel- 
fish, noble  inspiration.  For  heaven  ever  'broods  over 
the  world,  and  where  it  finds  a  human  toeing  empty 
of  himself,  it  fiMs  him  with  its  blessing.  Shakspere's 
capacity  was  like  a  cavern  of  mighty  echoes;  and  the 
one  God  of  Revelation,  Truth  and  Nature,  swelled  him 
to  his  mental  utmost!  The  poet's  very  soul  was  pro- 
lific; and  it  'both  increased  and  adorned  whatever  it 
touched. 

Stokspere's  methods,  or  habits  in  writing,  have 
been  indicated  by  his  contemporary  actors,  Heming 
and  Condell,  who  were  also  the  editors  of  the  first  com- 
plete edition  of  Shakspere's  works.  They  said  of  him : 
'^His  mind  and  hand  went  together;  and  what  he 
thouight,  he  uttered  with  such  easiness  that  we  have 
scarce  received  tfrom  him  a  blot  in  his  papers,"  Ben 
Johntson  said  that  Shiakspere  claimed,  that  "whatever 
he  wrote,  he  never  Matted  a  line."  But  Johnson  said 
agadn,  that  "Shakspere's  mind  and  manners  were  re- 
flected in  his  well-turned  and  true-filed  lines."  The 
fact  is  no  doubt  that  his  thought  ran  on  in  his  writing, 
like  bright  and  glowing  molten  metal,  taming  and 
irresistible,  but  which  he  afterwards  hammered  and 
filed,  when  it  had  cooled  sufficiently  for  him  to  touch. 

Bhafespere  studied  man  and  nature ;  and  he  wrote, 
not  second-hand,  tout  from  his  own  feeling,  observa- 
tion, and  experience.  Hils  plots  were  picked  up  from 
aflU  that  he  had  learned  in  history,  'biography,  or  story. 
But  the  characters  were  thoroughly  the  coinage  of  hi* 
«wn  fertile  tbrain.  As  Walter  Scott  dosed  in  the  Cale- 
donian inns  to  learn  (humani'ty,  and  Hawthorne 


26  THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM   SHAKSPERE. 

watched  the  crowds  hurrying-  into  land  out  of  the  Bos- 
ton post-office  to  fill  his  repertoire  of  characters,  so 
Shakspere  and  Ben  Johnson,  according  to  Aubrey, 
"took  the  humours  of  men  wherever  they  came."  Fal- 
staff  was  a  growth,  and  the  result  of  several  char- 
acters. Bardolf,  Sly,  FlueUen,  Herne,  Home,  Page 
Ford,  and  others,  were  the  familiar  names  of  Strat- 
ford inhabitants. 

Of  his  thirty-seven  well  authenticated  plays, 
thirty  ^one  had  certainly  been  given  to  the  world,  on  the 
stage  or  in  print,  during  Shakspere's  life-time.  But 
there  is  not  a  particle  of  evidence  to  show  that  he 
ever  saw  his  own  Macbeth,  or  Cymbeline,  Timon  ot" 
Athens,  Cleopatra,  Julius  Caesar,  or  Coriolanus,  either 
in  print  or  acted  out.  These  six  plays  were  first  pre- 
sented to  mankind  in  the  Heming  and  Condell  first  foli» 
edition,  published  in  1623,  seven  years  after  their 
author's  death,  and  the  same  year  that  the  body  of  the 
excellent  wife,  Anne  Shakspere,  was  laid  beside  that  of 
her  huslband. 

The  man  Who  held  horses  at  the  door  of  the  Black- 
fiarls  Theatre,  and  soon  after  received  the  contemp- 
tuous names  of  "Shake-scene,"  and  "Joannes  Facto- 
tum," never  expected  to  earn  the  title  of  the  King  ot" 
Poets!  But  his  was  not  first  case  where  the  Almighty 
has  chosen  a  lowly  worker  for  a  miraculous  work. 
Sha'kspere  stands  now  in  his  colossal  greatness,  like 
the  Pyramids  in  the  Egyptian  desert,  or  like  a  lofty 
mountain  rising  straight  up  from  the  level  sea!  His 
human  kindness  hovers  over  ins  like  the  shadow  of  a 
great  rock  that  keeps  away  from  the  loiwly  grass  and 
unpretentious  flowers  the  hot  and  garish  sun !  He  is 
not  dead.  He  lives  in  the  lives  of  men ;  in  the  love  and 
trutih  embodied  in  his  works.  And  when  his  Saxon 
race  has  gone;  his  native  English  tongue  forgotten, 
and  the  scrolls  of  worldly  volumes  mouldered  in  the 
dust  of  silent  ages,  this  truth  and  love  will  breathe 
upon  the  bones  of  Nature,  and  the  soul  of  Britain's  im- 
mortal bard  will,  like  its  fiaibled  Arthur,  the  nolble 
King,  return,  and  again  revive  the  dying  world  to  un- 
known higher  ascents  of  honor,  power  and  manhood! 


4 


THE 

Tragicall  Hiftorie  of 
HAMLET 


Bv  William  Shake-  fpearc 

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